Despite further signs of just how bad the credit crunch has become, the stock market's mood has been surprisingly buoyant ahead of the crucial US vote on the $700bn banking bail out.

The US non-farm payroll figures were worse than expected, but analysts said that merely put more pressure on congress to approve the banking rescue plan. News that Wells Fargo had stepped in to buy banking group Wachovia, trumping a previous agreement with Citigroup, also helped sentiment.

By the time London closed, Wall Street was around 240 points higher, and the FTSE 100 finished 109.9 points up at 4980.3. So - in a week which started with Bradford & Bingley being nationalised and US Congress initially rejecting the $700bn US deal and is ending with Gordon Brown calling for "new ways of governing" to cope with the financial crisis - the index is down a mere 100 points or so.

But you do not need to look far to see several signs of just how serious the situation has become. These included the Financial Services Authority raising the deposit protection threshold to £50,000 and the Bank of England suddenly deciding to accept a wider range of collateral from stressed out banks in exchange for funding, including asset-backed securities backed by the likes of student loans, consumer loans, auto loans and equipment leases.

Investors in banks decided to see all this as a positive sign. HBOS rose 30.4p to 200.5p, Lloyds TSB climbed 28.25p to 290.25p, Royal Bank of Scotland rose 10.2p to 186.2p and Barclays added 30p to 368p.

But British Airways fell 12.7p to 165.4p after poor September passenger figures. Software group Autonomy lost 39.5p to 890.5p despite saying third quarter results would be well ahead of expectations. In a sell note, George O'Connor of Panmure Gordon said: "In a difficult spending environment we expect Autonomy to face increased competitive pressure. We remind investors about our concerns over Autonomy's valuation and the emerging disconnect between operational performance and share price performance."

Elsewhere, it's been another bad week for Mike Ashley. The Newcastle owner is currently scouring the world for a buyer for the struggling club, having underwhelmed everyone with the appointment of the Joe Kinnear as its new manager.

This morning the papers were full of Kinnear's four-letter word tirade against journalists, and on top of that, Ashley has seen a slump in the value of some of his key shareholdings.

Sports Direct International fell 1.45% to a new low of 51p following news that Blacks Leisure, the outdoor clothing retailer where Ashley's company paid around 400p a share for a 29.4% stake, had issued its third profit warning this year. Blacks, down 12p to 77.5p , said it expected to make a £4.5m loss for the first half after difficult trading in August.

Ashley's rival JJB Sports was also hit, down 5.25p to 36.25p. A week ago there were concerns about JJB's banking covenants, but today there was vague talk the company was considering some disposals. It is not clear how crucial its fitness clubs, for example, are to the rest of the business.

JJB is also linked to the problems in Iceland, in the sense that chief executive Chris Ronnie bought his 29.9% stake in the company in tandem with Icelandic financial group Exista. It also announced a £20m bridging loan from another Icelandic bank, Kaupthing. There are growing fears about the state of the country's economy, with several of its banks coming under pressure.

Regal Petroleum jumped 42p to 125p despite denying reports it had received a $1.2bn bid approach from Royal Dutch Shell, up 45p to £16.28. Analysts at Fox-Davies Capital, who have a 370p a share price target on Regal, said: "We believe that at the current price at which the stock trades, the company is a very attractive target. It would be a material addition to a large independent or even a major." Indeed there was some late talk in the market that Russia's Lukoil could be interested.

John Menzies, the newspaper distribution and aviation services business, slumped 40.75p to 229.25p. The company said its aviation division would not meet forecasts following cutbacks in passenger and cargo flights.

Shore Capital cut its recommendation from hold to sell and said: "The marked deterioration in trading over the past six weeks leaves us concerned about the outlook for the group. Our concern is that further significant airline capacity cuts and falling cargo volumes appear likely, which could lead to further downgrades for Menzies Aviation."